Brady looks ahead

Over the last eight months, Tom Brady has talked so much about last year’s season-ending loss in Denver that he was really in no mood to broach the subject again yesterday.

“I’m looking forward to this week,” he said, “and seeing what we can accomplish.”

Still, with the Broncos visiting Gillette Stadium on Sunday, it’s hard not to think back to January’s 27-13 playoff loss and, as far as Brady is concerned, his hurried throw deep in Denver territory that was picked off in the end zone by Champ Bailey. The third-quarter interception changed the game.

“Being in the red zone and Tom Brady rolling out under pressure and throwing a pick,” Bailey said yesterday via conference call, “you don’t see that too often.”

You don’t, but Brady has had his troubles against the Broncos. He’s 1-4 against Denver, one of just four teams against which he has a losing record (Washington 0-1, Green Bay 0-1 and San Diego 1-2 are the others). He has completed 56 percent of his passes in the five games against Denver, thrown eight touchdown passes, including the 18-yard winner to David Givens with 30 seconds to play three years ago, and seven interceptions.

“He’s a winner,” said Bailey, who was unaware of Brady’s record against Denver. “You can’t underestimate this guy.”

You can’t, and if one thing is certain about the Patriots’ 2006 season, it’s that we haven’t seen the best of Brady yet.

He played poorly in the season opener against the Bills, completing just 11 passes and looking frustrated on a number of occasions. Brady admitted later that he wasn’t completely focused with the Deion Branch situation still unsettled at the time.

Brady was better, but not great, last week against the Jets, completing 15 of 29 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown to rookie Chad Jackson. He threw one interception and lost a fumble on a strip sack.

Brady was 5 of 6, hooking up with five different receivers, for 116 yards in the first quarter. In the Patriots’ final drive, which consumed more than eight minutes, he was 4 of 5, including three first-down completions.

Heading into Week 3, Brady is still getting used to and breaking in his new slew of receivers and figuring out whom, if anyone, will be his go-to guy, like Troy Brown was in 2001 and Branch the last couple of years. The 35-year-old Brown was the top receiver last week with four catches for 51 yards.

“I just think there’s a process of getting to know each other,” Brady said. “There are a lot of things that go into the passing game. It’s like basketball, when they go to the Olympics, they have great players, but you don’t practice, you don’t have that chemistry. It’s just a chemistry thing. We’re working hard to achieve that.”

He said it’s also about trust.

“I’m only as good as they are,” Brady said, “and they’re only as good as I am, so we’re in this together, myself and the receivers.”

The Patriots’ rushing attack, meanwhile, can maybe afford Brady a little time to get comfortable with his receivers. New England is averaging 165 yards on the ground, which ranks third in the league. The Patriots have run the ball 80 times in two games, while Brady has thrown 52 passes. So far, that’s a turnaround from last year, when Brady led the NFL in passing yards and New England had 564 pass plays and 439 rushes.

“As an offense, we have been able to do some good things,” Brady said. “We’re running the ball very well, and that takes some pressure off the passing game. I think our passing game is not at the level it’s been at in the past, and that’s what we’re trying to improve on. I’m certainly trying to play better, and that’s all I can control, so hopefully it’s better this week than it was last week.”

Brady’s eight home losses as a starter have come to eight different teams, Denver among them. The Broncos’ success against Brady has done nothing to diminish coach Mike Shanahan’s opinion of him. Shanahan ranks him right at the top of the league.

“Him and Peyton Manning, I go back and forth,” Shanahan said. “Every week, it sort of changes because they both have played so well over the last number of years. Obviously, with Tom winning the Super Bowls, he separated himself, but you watch Peyton as well, and those two guys are just kind of a step above everybody right now.”